Qazaq Air privatisation effort runs into trouble again

Efforts to privatise the Kazakh regional carrier Qazaq Air appear to have foundered, three weeks after the government restarted a sale process. Sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna states that the sale has not gone ahead owing to a “lack” of applications that meet the conditions for the tender. The fund had attempted to privatise the airline in August last year, aiming to sell between 49% and 100% of the airline through a two-stage competition. But the scheme was ruled invalid in November and, at the beginning of January, Samruk-Kazyna unveiled a new process. It had set a 29 January deadline for participation in the first stage. Successful applicants would have been put forward for to a second stage and invited to submit formal proposals. Samruk-Kazyna has yet to disclose whether it will persist in the privatisation effort. Qazaq Air was set up in 2015 and is based in Astana. The airline operates a fleet of De Havilland Dash 8 turboprops.<br/>